Surrender Book

Victoria Huntington thought herself quite adept at fending off fortune hunters…until she came under siege from Lucas Colebrook, the darkly disturbing new Earl of Stonevale. For the earl would use her every weakness to woo her and ultimately wed her. And soon Victoria would find herself ensconced in a crumbling mansion deep in the English country side, where the real reason for her hasty marriage becomes all too apparent and where the ghosts of her dark-stained past are waiting to rise in a terrifying plot that will threaten her life, her honor, and the only man she could ever love…

Publishers Weekly

Quick's ( Seduction ) light, amusing touch animates a pair of stock Regency romance characters: the experienced fortune-hunter and the naive but spirited maiden. Victoria Huntington is an heiress with a taste for any adventure but marriage. Her late mother's second marriage was unhappy, and she herself is weary of men who want to espouse her money. Enter Lucas Colebrook, Earl of Stonevale, claiming strictly honorable intentions. He'll court her, he promises, by satisfying her yen for risky pursuits, escorting her to the London normally off-limits to ladies, such as its gaming ``hells'' and brothels. When Victoria's boundless curiosity prompts her to suggest an amorous liaison (even as she dismisses Lucas's marriage proposal), they are discovered at an inn, and only a wedding can salvage Victoria's reputation. With charm and humor Quick portrays this irregular courtship and marriage, which is eventually clouded by Victoria's learning that Colebrook had indeed been after her inheritance and by a sinister secret from her past that threatens not only their happiness but their lives. (Oct.)